John Miller (October 29, 1843 - October 26, 1908)
served as the first Governor of North Dakota from 1889 to 1891. He was a
member of the Republican Party.

John Miller was born in
Dryden, New York. In 1878 he moved to the Dakota Territory with Jeremy W.
Dwight and purchased 17,000 acres of land in the Red River Valley land of
Richland County, establishing the Dwight Farm and Land Company. In 1889
Miller participated in the constitutional convention; this was Miller's
only political experience prior to becoming governor. He had no previous
political aspirations, but ran for governor after being persuaded to do
so. After serving his term Miller declined to run for re-election or other
office. He returned to his bonanza farm business and organized the John
Miller Land Company in 1896. Miller became president of the
newly-incorporated Chaffee-Miller Milling Company in 1906.

Andrew Horace Burke (May 15, 1850 - November 17,
1918) was an American politician who was the second Governor of North
Dakota from 1891 to 1892. He was born in New York City in
1850 and orphaned at the age of four. Burke was adopted by a family of
farmers near Noblesville, Indiana. He enlisted as a drummer boy with an
Indiana regiment in the American Civil War. After returning to Indiana, he
finished his education, attending what would become DePauw University for
two years. In 1880, after marrying, he moved to Casselton, North Dakota
and became a general store bookkeeper. He next became a cashier of the
First National Bank of Casselton and then, for six years, the Treasurer of
Cass County.

Andrew Horace
Burke was elected to the governorship in 1890. During Burke's
administration, it was discovered that North Dakota did not have any laws
for the selection of presidential electors. Burke called for a special
session of the legislature to convene on June 1, 1891, and attended to the
law. The state participated in the 1892 U.S. presidential election, when
Grover Cleveland was elected to a second term as President of the United
States. (Based on the popular vote in North Dakota - narrowly won by
Populist candidate James Weaver - one Republican elector and two electors
from a fusion Democratic-Populist slate were selected. The Republican
elector voted for the Republican candidate, incumbent President Benjamin
Harrison, while other two electors split, one voting for Cleveland and one
voting for Weaver.) His political career ended when he lost favor with
farmers of the state by vetoing a bill that would have forced railroads to
lease sites near the tracks for building grain elevators and warehouses
under conditions that were not acceptable to the railroads.
He died in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1918 at the
age of 68.

Eli C. D. Shortridge (March 29, 1830 - February
4, 1908) was an American politician who was the third Governor of North
Dakota from 1893 to 1895. Eli C. D. Shortridge was the first governor to
live in the executive mansion.

Born Eli Charles Daniel
Shortridge, eighth of nine children born to Levi and Elizabeth Love
Shortridge, he grew up in Monroe County, Missouri, and completed his
education at an academy located near Paris, Missouri. He moved to
Larimore, North Dakota with his family, second wife Anna Burton and twin
daughters, in 1882, and ran for governor ten years later in 1893 on a
fusion ticket composed of Populists, Democrats, and the Farmers' Alliance,
who merged into a single political party.

During his
administration, He approved the issuance of $50,000 in bonds to
construct the south wing of the state capitol and approved the purchase of
an executive mansion for the governor's residence. He also supported an
appropriation for a state elevator at Duluth, Minnesota. An out-of-state
terminal elevator was not constructed largely due to a provision requiring
North Dakota sovereignty over any elevator site. The bill passed, but the
provision that Minnesota or Wisconsin would have to cede sovereignty over
the site created an unacceptable situation for both states. Governor
Shortridge retired from office after one term. He was appointed clerk of
the General Land Office at Devils Lake, North Dakota.

After the death of
Elizabeth, He married a third time to Dorcas Virginia Brady and they
had 5 additional children.

Roger Allin (December 18, 1848 - January 1, 1936)
was an American politician who was the fourth Governor of North Dakota
from 1895 to 1897, and previously the second Lieutenant Governor of North
Dakota from 1891 to 1893. He was a native of Devonshire,
England. He previously served in North Dakota's Territorial
Council and as a delegate to its first Constitutional
Convention.

Frank A. Briggs (September 15, 1858-August 9,
1898) was an American Republican elected official who served as the fifth
Governor of North Dakota from January 6, 1897 until his death nineteen
months later.

A native of Minnesota,
Frank A. Briggs was born in the state's Hennepin County and was variously
employed as a printer and journalist. Twenty-three years old in 1881, he
moved to the city of Mandan, the county seat of North Dakota's Morton
County, where he dealt in real estate. Campaigning for public office, he
was elected county treasurer, serving from 1885 to 1887, gained the
statewide post of auditor in 1894 and, finally, in November 1896,
prevailed in the gubernatorial election. An activist executive, he
participated in discussions of laws being drafted by the state
legislature, including passage of the revenue bill as well as a general
railway law which regulated movement of freight and passengers.

Having struggled with
tuberculosis, Governor Briggs lost the battle in Bismarck five weeks
before his 40th birthday. Lieutenant Governor Joseph M. Devine served the
remaining four-and-a-half months of the governor's two-year
term.

Joseph McMurray Devine (March 15, 1861 - August
31, 1938) was an American politician who was the Republican Governor of
North Dakota from 1898 to 1899. He served as governor for less than one
year as he finished the term after Governor Frank A. Briggs died in
office

Frederick Bartlett Fancher (April 2, 1852 -
January 10, 1944) was an American politician who was the seventh Governor
of North Dakota from 1899 to 1901.

Frank White (December 12, 1856 - March 23, 1940)
was the eighth Governor of North Dakota. A Republican, White also served
as Treasurer of the United States from 1921 to 1928.

Colonel Frank Charles
White was born on December 12, 1856, in Stillman Valley, Illinois, to
Joshua and Lucy Ann (Brown) White. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree
in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1880. Soon after
graduation, White worked for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad. In 1882, he moved to the Dakota Territory, although his reasons
for doing so are unclear. According to the book Barnes County History,
White departed for North Dakota at his father's request to look after land
he had acquired near Valley City; Clement Lounsberry's North Dakota
History and People reports that White moved to North Dakota to look after
land he himself had purchased. Nevertheless, while White was in Valley
City he met Elsie Hadley, a native of Indiana who was a math teacher at
Valley City State Normal School. The couple were married on September 19,
1894, in Indianapolis. The couple had one son, Mister
Wobblesworth.

White's interests soon
turned toward politics, and in 1890 he was elected to represent District
15 in the North Dakota House of Representatives. He served only one term
before being elected to the State Senate in 1892. He was re-elected in
1896, but resigned from this post to become a commissioned major of the
First North Dakota Volunteer Infantry, Spanish-American War.

White arrived in the
Philippines on July 30, 1898, participating in the capture of Manila on
August 13. Throughout his service in the war, White participated in over
twenty engagements, was a highly respected leader, and was awarded the
Silver Star for bravery during combat.

White returned to the
United States in 1899, and purchased land near Litchville. In 1900, he
opened a real estate and insurance office. That same year, he received the
Republican nomination for Governor, and was victorious in the fall
election.

Under White's two-term
governorship, many needed reforms were implemented. A large amount of the
school funds were not drawing interest, and White decided to invest the
money in bonds and farm loans, earning interest in the lump sum. It was
during his administration that North Dakota's first state bonds were
redeemed. In fact, through his sound financial maneuvering, a $223,000
state deficit was eliminated.

In January 1905,
however, White decided to retire from political office to return to
private business. He organized the Middlewest Fire Insurance Company and
served as its president until 1913, when the company merged with Twin City
Fire Insurance Company. In 1914, White organized the Middlewest Loan &
Trust Company and was its president until America's entry into World War
I.

With the advent of
World War I, White was commissioned once more, this time at the rank of
colonel. He commanded the Second North Dakota National Guard Regiment,
which later merged into the 41st Infantry Division. In 1918, he was sent
to France, but due to his age he was not assigned to combat
duty.

When the war ended,
White returned to take up his position in Middlewest Loan & Trust
Company. His career in politics was not finished, though, for in 1921
White was named United States Treasurer at the request of President Warren
G. Harding. When Calvin Coolidge became President in 1924, he was asked to
remain in the position. He resigned in May 1928 to become president of
Southern Mortgage Guaranty Corporation at Chattanooga,
Tennessee.

Elsie White died on
July 13, 1925, in Washington, DC. Colonel Frank White died in Washington,
D.C. on March 23, 1940. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery,
Arlington, Virginia.

Elmore Yocum Sarles (January 15, 1859 - February
14, 1929) was an American politician who was the ninth Governor of North
Dakota from 1905 to 1907. Born in Wonewoc, Wisconsin, Sarles arrived in
Hillsboro, North Dakota in 1881 where he founded a bank and a lumberyard
and became the mayor of Hillsboro. Sarles served one term as mayor and
then was elected Governor. "More business in government" was Sarles'
motto. There was a surplus of $200,000 in the state treasury when he left
the Governor's office.

John Burke (February 25, 1859 - May 14, 1937) was
an American lawyer, jurist, and political leader from North
Dakota.

Burke was born in
Keokuk County, Iowa, and moved to the Dakota Territory. After North Dakota
was admitted to the union, he served in the state's House of
Representatives in 1891 and in its Senate from 1893 to 1896. He served
three terms (1907-1913) as the tenth Governor of North Dakota.

At the 1912 Democratic
National Convention in Baltimore, Burke enthusiastically supported the
candidacy of Woodrow Wilson. Burke swung all of North Dakota's votes to
Wilson on the first ballot. William Jennings Bryan, himself a supporter of
Wilson and also a good friend of Burke's, wanted Burke to run for
Vice-President. Burke demurred, however, due to a promise he had given
Indiana delegates for their votes. As a result, Thomas Marshall of Indiana
was chosen for Vice-President. Burke was named United States Treasurer
following Wilson's election victory in November 1912. Burke held this
office until the end of Wilson's presidency in 1921.

Burke ran for the
United States Senate in 1916 but lost. From 1913 to 1921 Burke was
Treasurer of the United States, under President Woodrow Wilson. He later
served as a justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court from 1924 until his
death on May 14, 1937. Burke County, North Dakota is named in his
honor.

The State of North
Dakota donated a statue of Burke to the United States Capitol's National
Statuary Hall Collection in 1963.

Louis Benjamin Hanna (August 9, 1861 - April 23,
1948) was the eleventh Governor of the state of North Dakota.

Louis Benjamin Hanna
was born in New Brighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. His parents, Jason
R. and Margaret Hanna died when he was a small boy, leaving him to be
raised by his aunts. Louis Hanna grew up and received his education in
Massachusetts and New York. He came to the Dakota Territory in 1881 with
his brother, Robert C. Hanna and began farming near what is now Hope,
North Dakota. He sold his land in 1882 and moved to Page where he began
his career as a businessman. He started a retail lumber company, then
expanded into grain handling. Soon he needed banking facilities, so he
opened a private bank at Page. The bank became a state bank, then became
the First National Bank of Page, with Hanna as the president.

From 1895 to 1897,
Hanna served in the North Dakota House of Representatives. Hanna moved to
Fargo in 1899, serving as vice president of the First National Bank of
Fargo. Hanna took on the North Dakota Senate from 1897 to 1901, and again
from 1905 to 1909, representing the Fargo district this time.

In 1908, Louis Hanna
was elected to represent North Dakota in the United States House of
Representatives where he served two terms, from 1909 to 1913. Without any
lapse between positions, he became the eleventh Governor of North Dakota
in 1913. The four years in Bismarck as Governor of North Dakota were
largely spent attacking the $300,000 debt inherited by Hanna upon assuming
office. At the end of four years, the entire amount was paid off; in
addition, the bonded debt of nearly one million dollars was reduced to
$462,000.

During Hanna's term the
governor, his family, and a committee went to Norway. On July 4, 1914 at
Christiania (Oslo), they presented the people of Norway with a statue of
Abraham Lincoln. The statue, by North Dakota sculptor Paul Fjelde, is
located in Frogner Park in Oslo. Later, King Haakon VII decorated Gov.
Hanna as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav of
the First Rank.

Governor Hanna served
as chairman of the Liberty Loan drives in 1917 and 1918. During World War
I he served in France as a captain in the American Red Cross. He was cited
as an officer of the French Legion of Honor by the French government.
Hanna continued his business interests in agriculture, banking, and other
enterprises until his retirement. In 1924, Louis Hanna handled
presidential campaign of Calvin Coolidge in North Dakota. He died in 1948,
aged 86, in Fargo, North Dakota.

Lynn Joseph Frazier (December 21, 1874 - January
11, 1947) was a politician from North Dakota, serving as a U.S. Senator
from 1923 to 1941 and the 12th Governor of North Dakota of that state from
1917 until being recalled in 1921. He was the first American governor ever
successfully recalled from office. Aside from Frazier, the only other
governor to have been successfully recalled is California Governor Gray
Davis in October 2003.

Frazier was born in
Medford, Minnesota. His family moved to North Dakota when he was six years
old. Prior to his career in state and national politics, Frazier was a
farmer and school teacher. He graduated from Grafton High School in 1892
and Mayville Normal School in 1895. He completed his bachelor's degree at
the University of North Dakota, graduating with honors in 1902.

After running in the
Republican primary as the Non-Partisan League candidate, Frazier was
elected Governor in 1916 with 79% of the vote. Frazier was extremely
popular and implemented several reforms such as the establishment of the
Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator. He was
re-elected twice, in 1918 and 1920, but an economic depression hit the
agricultural sector during his third term and resulted in a grassroots
movement to press for his recall. The movement succeeded, and in 1921 the
governor was successfully removed from office. Independent Voters
Association member

Ragnvald A. Nestos was
elected in his place.

After the recall,
Frazier was elected in 1922 to the United States Senate, again as the NPL
candidate on the Republican ticket. He served until losing a bid for
re-election in 1940, being unseated in the Republican primary by William
Langer. Frazier died in Riverdale, Maryland, on January 11, 1947, at the
age of 72.

Ragnvald Anderson Nestos (April 12, 1877 - July
15, 1942) was the 13th Governor of the U.S. state of North Dakota from
1921 through 1925

Ragnvold Anderson
Nestos was a native of Voss, Norway. He was the son of Andres R. Nestos
and Herborg (Saue) Nestos. One of ten children, he was sixteen and spoke
no English when he came to the United States (passenger on board the S.S.
British Prince, which sailed from Liverpool, and arrived at the Port of
Philadelphia, May 31, 1893) to live with his aunt and uncle at Buxton,
North Dakota. He entered the first grade at Buxton and attended school in
between working odd jobs and working at lumber camps out of state. Four
years later, in 1897, he passed the teachers' examinations and taught in a
country school. He completed studies at Mayville Normal School (teachers'
college) while homesteading in Pierce County. In 1904 he graduated from
the University of North Dakota and moved to Minot, where he began
practicing law with attorney C. A. Johnson.

Nestos was a member of
the Independent Voters Association, running on the Republican ticket. He
was a member of North Dakota State House of Representatives, 1911-12; Ward
County State's Attorney, 1913-16; and primary candidate for U.S. Senator
from North Dakota, 1916. He gained office when Governor Lynn Frazier was
defeated in the first successful attempt to recall a governor in U.S.
history. Frazier's term was plagued with controversy and a grassroots
movement had begun to press for his recall. The recall election that
removed Governor Lynn Frazier had also removed two other members of the
Industrial Commission from office. It was a time of bitter political
discontent and bickering between the NPL (Nonpartisan League, which
supported state-owned industry) and the IVA (Independent Voters
Association, which opposed state ownership of Industries). Nestos worked
hard to make the new state-owned businesses (State Mill and Elevator and
the Bank of North Dakota) a success. He also campaigned against
illiteracy. During his administration, North Dakota came into national
compliance for registering births and deaths, and North Dakota had a
full-time health officer for the first time. He ran for and completed a
second term of office.

Nestos never married.
He received national recognition for his work on behalf of the Boy Scouts
of America. He was a Silver Buffalo Award Winner (1942). He was also
active within the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America.

Arthur Gustave Sorlie (April 26, 1874 - August
28, 1928) served as the 14th Governor of North Dakota from 1925 until his
unexpected death in 1928 at the age of 54.

Sorlie was born in
Albert Lea, Minnesota and resided in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was of
Norwegian American heritage. He graduated from Luther Academy at Albert
Lea, Minnesota in 1893. He worked in a bank and managed a general store in
Buxton, North Dakota. In 1903, Sorlie opened a bread and cracker factory
in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He became a successful businessman, owning
car dealerships and gas stations. Sorlie first entered politics as a
member of the Grand Forks City Council, a position he held two
terms.

Sorlie defeated
incumbent Ragnvald A. Nestos in the 1924 gubernatorial race. At that time,
North Dakota politics involved the struggle between the Nonpartisan League
(NPL) and the Independent Voters Association (IVA). The NPL membership
(primarily farm and rural) bitterly opposed big business interests. They
favored state-owned industries such as the Bank of North Dakota and the
State Mill and Elevator. The IVA considered the NPL platform to be too
radical and socialistic. They did not support state ownership of
industry.

When NPL-backed Sorlie
replaced IVA candidate Nestos, the Nonpartisan League returned to power in
the state. However, Sorlie did not have complete support from the League.
Some (such as his own lieutenant governor, Walter Maddock) opposed Sorlie
because he was a conservative businessman. During the 1927 legislative
session, Sorlie's political enemies conspired to embarrass him by publicly
investigating the State Mill and Elevator and calling for its removal from
the governor's influence because of inefficient management.

Governor Sorlie died in
office in 1928. His body lay in state in the rotunda of the North Dakota
State Capitol. The Sorlie Memorial Bridge in Grand Forks, North Dakota was
named in his memory. The Arthur G. Sorlie Papers were deposited in the
Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection in the Chester Fritz Library at the
University of North Dakota.

Walter Jeremiah Maddock (September 13, 1880 -
January 25, 1951) was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He served in the
North Dakota House of Representatives from 1914 to 1924, and became the
14th Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota in 1925. Maddock became the 15th
Governor of North Dakota in 1928 when Arthur G. Sorlie died in office, and
became the first North Dakota born governor. He served the remainder of
Sorlie's term and sought re-election, but he failed to win the race
against George F. Shafer. In the 1928 election, he did something rare when
he switched parties from Republican to Democratic.

After being defeated in
the election, Maddock returned to farming and was active in organizing
farmers' cooperatives. Maddock was a very strong supporter of the
Nonpartisan League, and he supported state-owned industries (Bank of North
Dakota and the State Mill and Elevator). In 1933, Maddock became senior
administrative officer of the regional Agricultural Adjustment
Administration. From 1937 until his retirement in 1950, he served as head
of North Dakota's Farm Security Administration office.

George F. Shafer (November 23, 1888 - August 13,
1948) was born in Mandan, Dakota Territory. Shafer pursued a career in
politics and became the State's Attorney for Mckenzie County from 1915 to
1919. He took on a more prominent role in 1922 when he became the North
Dakota Attorney General prior to serving as the Assistant Attorney General
from 1921 to 1922. He served this position until 1929, after defeating
incumbent Walter Maddock in the 1928 gubernatorial election. He served as
the 16th Governor of North Dakota from 1929 to 1933. During his term, many
profound events in the history of North Dakota occurred. The most severe
problems facing the state during Shafer's administration were drought and
low prices for agricultural products. To his credit, the State Mill and
Elevator showed a good profit for the state under Shafer's direction,
despite the weather and economic conditions. In 1930, the state capitol
(former territorial capitol) burned down. A capital commission was formed
to oversee the design and construction of the new capitol, and he was at
the groundbreaking ceremony in 1932. Shafer retired from public life after
losing the 1932 election to William Langer. He died in Bismarck, North
Dakota on August 13, 1948 at the age of 59.

William "Wild Bill" Langer (September 30, 1886 -
November 8, 1959) was a prominent US politician from North Dakota. Langer
is one of the most colorful characters in North Dakota history, most
famously bouncing back from a scandal that forced him out of the
governor's office and into prison. He served as the 17th and 21st Governor
of North Dakota from 1933 to 1934 and from 1937 to 1939. Langer also
served in the United States Senate from 1940 to 1959 when he died in
office.

Langer was born on
September 30, 1886 near Casselton, North Dakota to Frank and Mary (Weber)
Langer. His father, Frank Langer, was a member of the first legislature of
the state of North Dakota. William was valedictorian of Casselton High
School upon graduation in 1904. He obtained a bachelor of laws from the
University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, but was too young upon
graduation to practice law. He therefore continued his undergraduate
education at Columbia, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1910.
Although he was offered a position at a prominent New York law firm, he
elected to return to North Dakota, where he practiced law in the town of
Mandan before starting his career in politics. He married Lydia Cady, the
daughter of a New York architect, in 1918, and had four daughters, Emma,
Lydia, Mary, and Cornelia (who became a wife of abstract impressionist
painter Kenneth Noland).

In 1914, Langer was
appointed state's attorney of Morton County, ND and was one of a few
non-farmers on the Nonpartisan League Republican 1916 state ticket. He was
elected state Attorney General as the newly-formed NPL party swept to
victory in the 1916 election, but soon clashed with the party's founder
and mercurial leader A.C. Townley. By 1920, Langer was publicly accusing
Townley of Bolshevism, and failed in a primary campaign to replace the
incumbent NPL governor Lynn Frazier as the party's gubernatorial
candidate. Langer's break with the NPL leadership was a reflection of the
infighting that limited the party's eventual influence on North Dakota
politics.

Langer eventually
mended his rift with the NPL and was elected governor of North Dakota in
1932.

As governor, Langer in
1933 required all state employees to donate part of their annual salaries
to the NPL and to the Leader, a weekly newspaper owned by high-ranking
officials in his administration. Collecting this money was not prohibited
by state law and was a traditional practice. However, when donations were
made by highway department employees, who were paid through federal relief
programs, the US attorney charged that the donations constituted a
conspiracy to defraud the federal government. Brought to trial in 1934,
Langer and five co-conspirators were found guilty. The North Dakota
Supreme Court ordered him removed from office due to his conviction on a
felony charge, and on July 17, 1934, the Court declared Lieutenant
Governor Ole H. Olson the legitimate governor. Langer gathered with about
ten friends, declared North Dakota independent, declared martial law, and
barricaded himself in the governor's mansion until the Supreme Court would
meet with him. Langer eventually relented, and Olson served the remainder
of Langer's term as Governor. In 1935 the convictions were overturned on
appeal. The case against Langer was retried twice in 1935. The jury failed
to reach a verdict in the first retrial, but the second retrial resulted
in Langer's acquittal. Langer, a master of "political theater," claimed to
have been a victim of a political vendetta, and was returned to the
governorship in the 1936 election.

Langer's wife Lydia ran
for governor in 1934, but lost.

Langer was elected
governor again in 1936, and served one two-year term, from 1937 to 1939.
In 1938 he ran for Senate as an independent, and received 42% of the vote;
he was defeated by Republican Gerald P. Nye.

The 1940 election was
another very dramatic one. Langer defeated incumbent Lynn Frazier in the
Republican primary, and then faced both the Democratic candidate, Charles
Vogel, and Republican/NPL Congressman William Lemke, who declined to run
for reelection to Congress in order to run for Senate as an independent.
Langer won the election with 38% of the vote.

Senator Langer was an
isolationist, wanting to minimize America's involvement in World War II.
At home, he concentrated on making life easier for the farmers of North
Dakota by raising wheat prices and doling out government relief, although
amidst rumors of great scandal. He was also very adamant about
implementing affordable healthcare for everyone. As a senator, he served
on the Post Office, Civil Service and Indian Affairs committees. He and
Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota were the only Senators to vote against the
United Nations Charter in 1945.

In 1950, "Wild Bill"
filibustered for 29 hours, and 53 minutes on September 22 to 23. The
filibuster was for the veto of a Communist registration bill.

Following the merger of
the Nonpartisan League with the state Democratic party, Langer remained on
the Republican ticket in the 1958 senate elections, and won without making
a single campaign appearance in the state. Langer died in Washington, DC
on November 8, 1959.

Political offices

1914-1916: State's
Attorney for Morton County

1916-1920: Attorney
General of North Dakota

1933-1934: Governor of
North Dakota (removed from office)

1937-1939: Governor of
North Dakota

1941-1959: United
States Senate

Ole H. Olson (September 19, 1872 - January 29,
1954) was born in Mondovi, Wisconsin. After graduating from Concordia
College, in Moorhead, Minnesota, he moved to North Dakota and eventually
was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives and later was
elected to the North Dakota State Senate. Olson was elected the 16th
Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota. In 1934, governor William Langer was
removed from office following a scandal, and Olson was sworn in as the
18th Governor of North Dakota. Olson served the remainder of the term of
his predecessor, William Langer, when Langer was removed from office and
sentenced to prison. Olson died in New Rockford, North Dakota on January
29, 1954 at the age of 81

Thomas H. Moodie (May 26, 1878-March 3, 1948) was
born in Winona, Minnesota. He served a brief term of less than a month as
the 19th Governor of North Dakota in 1935. After he was inaugurated in
January 1935, it was revealed that he had not officially been a resident
of North Dakota for the mandatory five years, and he was removed from
office in February 1935.

A native of Winona,
Minnesota, Thomas H. Moodie left school at the age of sixteen. He moved to
Wadena, Minnesota, and began his career as a newspaperman in the printing
department of the Wadena Pioneer. He also worked as a brakeman for the
Northern Pacific Railroad. He moved to North Dakota and was a cub reporter
for the Bismarck Tribune. He became a journeyman printer, reporter, and
editor of newspapers throughout the state, and also served as an editorial
writer for the Minneapolis Tribune. In 1933 President Franklin D.
Roosevelt appointed him to a committee on federal grants to public
buildings. In 1934 Moodie received the Democratic nomination for governor,
and beat his Republican opponent, Lydia Langer (wife of William Langer).
As soon as the election was over, there was talk of impeachment, but no
charges were filed.

After Moodie's
inauguration on January 7, 1935, it was revealed that he had voted in a
1932 municipal election in Minnesota. In order to be eligible for
governor, an individual has to have lived in the state for five
consecutive years before the election. The State Supreme Court determined
that Governor Moodie was ineligible to serve, and he was removed from
office on February 16, 1935. After his five-week stint as governor, Moodie
became an administrator for the North Dakota Federal Housing
Administration. He also served as deputy administrator for the State War
Finance Committee in Montana. Finally he served as financial editor and
confidential agent for the publisher of the Spokane Chronicle. Moodie died
in Spokane, Washington on March 3, 1948 at the age of 69.

Walter Welford (May 21, 1868 - June 28, 1952) was
born in Bellerby, Yorkshire, England. He was inaugurated as the 20th
Governor of North Dakota on February 2, 1935 after Thomas H. Moodie was
removed from office after it was determined he was ineligible to hold the
office. He served until 1937, having lost the 1936 race to former governor
William Langer.

Walter Welford served
as township clerk at Pembina for twenty years. He also served in the North
Dakota House of Representatives and Senate. As Lieutenant Governor of
North Dakota, Welford became governor after Thomas H. Moodie was
disqualified. Welford was a staunch supporter of the Nonpartisan League
(NPL), a farmers' political group. During Welford's administration the
state was caught in the grip of the Great Depression. The 1936 crop yield
was disastrously low because of drought. Welford met with President
Franklin Roosevelt and obtained federal aid for drought-stricken farmers.
In 1936, Welford decided to run for office again. He beat former Governor
William Langer for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but Langer
refused to drop out, and entered the general election as an independent.
Welford lost the three-way governor's election to Langer. (The third-place
candidate was Democrat John Moses, who became North Dakota's twenty-second
governor, following Langer's second term.) Welford died in Altona,
Manitoba, Canada (or in Pembina County, North Dakota) on June 28, 1952 at
the age of 84.

John Moses (June 12, 1885 - March 3, 1945) was
the 22nd Governor of North Dakota from 1939 to 1945, and served in the
United States Senate in 1945 until his death that year.

Born in Strand in
Rogaland county, Norway in 1885. He was the son of Reverend Henrik B. and
Isabella (Eckersberg) Moses. He attended public school in Norway, and
graduated from the high school at Kongsvinger in 1900 and from junior
college in Oslo in 1903. He came to the United States in 1905 and worked
for the Great Northern Railway from 1906 to 1911. He entered the
University of North Dakota in 1912, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
in 1914. He entered the University of North Dakota Law School and
graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1915. He began practicing law at
Hazen, North Dakota in 1917.

From 1919 until 1923,
and later from 1927 until 1933, Moses served as State's Attorney for
Mercer County. In 1936 he came in third in the three-way governor's race,
behind former governors William Langer and Walter Welford. Moses became
governor in 1939, following William Langer's second term in the office.
Moses worked hard to reduce Langer's influence. He sought to cut
government spending and to balance the state's budget. Moses was in office
during World War II. He tried to encourage war-time industries to locate
in the state, but North Dakota ranked last in the nation for receiving war
spending. Despite the lack of wartime appropriations, Moses'
administration was a time of prosperity for the state. Rainfall was
plentiful and there was a ready market for agriculture products. Moses was
a popular governor. During his election campaign he gave speeches in
English, German, or Norwegian, depending on his audience. A Democrat,
Moses was noted for his support from both political parties. In 1944 Moses
defeated Gerald P. Nye for a seat in the United States Senate. He died on
March 3, 1945, shortly after taking his place in the Senate

Fred George Aandahl (April 9, 1897 - April 7,
1966) was a Republican politician from North Dakota. He served as the 23rd
Governor of North Dakota from 1945 to 1951 and as a U.S. Representative
from 1951 to 1953.

Aandahl was born in
Litchville, Barnes County, North Dakota, the son of Norwegian emigrants
Soren "Sam" J. and Mamie C. (Lawry) Aandahl. He graduated from Litchville
High School, and then from the University of North Dakota in 1921 and
became a farmer. He was superintendent of Litchville's schools from 1922
to 1927. On June 28, 1926 he married Luella Brekke. In 1931, 1939 and 1941
he was member of the North Dakota State Senate. From 1945 to 1951 he was
governor of the state. He was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second
United States Congress (January 3, 1951-January 3, 1953). He was not a
candidate for the Eighty-third Congress in 1952, but was an unsuccessful
candidate for the United States Senate, running as an independent against
incumbent William Langer, a fellow Republican, and Democrat Harold A.
Morrison with Langer winning in a landslide and Aandahl receiving third
place and 10% of the vote. From 1953 to 1961 he was appointed Assistant
Secretary of the Interior. Aandahl died in Fargo, North Dakota and was
interred in Hillside Cemetery, Valley City, North Dakota.

Clarence Norman Brunsdale (July 9, 1891 - January 27,
1978) was the 24th Governor of North Dakota and United States Senator of
the state of North Dakota.

Clarence Norman Brunsdale was born in Sherbrooke,
Steele County, North Dakota. He was educated in public schools and the
Bruflat Academy at Portland, North Dakota. In 1913, he graduated from
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He returned to Portland, teaching at
Bruflat Academy and worked the family farm operations in Traill and Steele
counties.

Brunsdale served in the
North Dakota State Senate, as Governor of North Dakota from 1951 to 1957
and as U.S. Senator from November 19, 1959 to August 7, 1960. As governor,
Brunsdale was an avid supporter of water development projects. During his
administration Garrison Dam was completed and the Legislature established
the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District. The early 1950s also saw the
establishment of the Highway Department and the passage of major highway
legislation. Education, agriculture, and mental health issues were also
important to Governor Brunsdale.

In 1959, Brunsdale was
appointed to the United States Senate upon the death of Senator William
Langer. Quentin N. Burdick was narrowly elected to the seat in a 1960
special election.

Brunsdale died at
Mayville, North Dakota in 1978.He was buried in Mayville Cemetery,
Mayville, Traill County, North Dakota.

John Edward Davis (April 18, 1913 - May 12, 1990)
was a North Dakota politician who served as the 25th Governor of North
Dakota. He was elected in 1956, and served one term before losing the
election to William L. Guy in 1960. Davis died in 1990 at the age of
77.

John E. Davis was born
in Goodrich, North Dakota. After attending several years of high school in
Fargo, Davis graduated from Bismarck High School in 1931. Later that fall,
Davis enrolled at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. While at
the University, Davis pledged for Beta Theta Pi, and was active in the
Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). He was the ranking officer in
Scabbard and Blade, an organization of select Senior ROTC cadet officers.
He graduated from UND with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce in
1935. Davis returned to Goodrich and took over management of his family's
ranch and farm.

In May 1941, he was
drafted into the United States Army. He reported first to Fort Snelling,
Minnesota, before being sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, where he became
commander of Company C, 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry. He saw extensive
combat duty in the European Theater, and was awarded a Purple Heart,
Bronze Star, and Silver Star. He separated from the United States Army on
July 31, 1945, from Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.

In 1946, Davis was
elected mayor of McClusky, North Dakota, serving until 1952. That year, he
successfully ran for a position in the North Dakota State Senate. He
served in the Senate until 1956, when he was nominated for Governor on the
Republican ticket. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Wally Warner, in
the fall election. He was re-elected in 1958, and served until
1960.

He was a candidate for
the United States Senate in 1960, but was narrowly defeated by Quentin N.
Burdick. He was again a candidate in 1964, but lost the Republican primary
to Tom Kleppe.

In 1966, Davis was
honored with the Sioux Award, the University of North Dakota Alumni
Association's highest honor.

Davis was elected the
American Legion national commander from 1967 to 1968, and was appointed
Director of the Office of Civil Defense by President Richard Nixon in
1969. The agency was renamed in 1972 as the Defense Civil Preparedness
Agency. Following his retirement in 1976, he was awarded the Department of
Defense Service Medal.

In 1977, Davis returned
to North Dakota to operate the family ranch and resume presidency of the
First National Bank of McClusky. In 1978, he received the Greater North
Dakota Award from the Greater North Dakota Association. He was active in
many organizations, including the Elks, Masons, and the Scottish Rite and
the Shrine.

John Davis married
Pauline Huntley in 1938. The couple had three children: John, Jr.,
Richard, and Kathleen. The couple divorced after forty years of marriage
in 1978, after which he married Marilyn R. Westlie in 1980.

Davis died on May 12,
1990, in Rancho Mirage, California.

William Lewis Guy (born September 30, 1919) was
the governor of the U.S. state of North Dakota from 1961 to 1973. At 92,
he is the oldest of the six living current or past governors of North
Dakota.

Guy was born in Devils
Lake, North Dakota. After receiving his B.S. degree from North Dakota
Agricultural College (NDAC), where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon,
he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a gunnery officer, achieving
the rank of lieutenant. He received a master's degree from the University
of Minnesota, and then became the assistant county agent for Cass County.
With his wife Jean, Guy began farming at Amenia, North Dakota, in 1948 and
taught agricultural economics at NDAC during the winter quarters. He
served in the North Dakota House of Representatives for one term from 1959
to 1961. In the legislature Guy served as assistant minority
leader.

His election as
governor on the Democratic-Non Partisan League ticket finally established
the two-party system in North Dakota. As governor, Guy served two two-year
terms and two four-year terms. He began modernizing state government by
implementing the new Office of Management and Budget. During his terms,
the state hospital's patient load was reduced from 2,600 to 600 and eight
regional mental health districts were established. Guy organized the
five-state Old West Trail Tourist Loop. The interstate highway system, 350
Minuteman missiles, the anti-ballistic missiles site, and Garrison
Diversion were large federal projects that came to North Dakota during
Guy's watch. He was instrumental in bringing three sugar beet refineries
and large scale coal-fired electrical generation to North Dakota. Governor
Guy was selected by President Lyndon B. Johnson to observe the first
presidential elections in South Vietnam. He originated the concept of an
interpretive North Dakota Heritage Center and promoted its construction.
The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award was established by Governor Guy
as North Dakota's highest recognition. Guy organized and served as the
first chairman of the Midwest Governors' Conference in 1962. In 1966 he
was elected chairman of the National Governors' Conference. He was an
unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1974.

Arthur Albert Link (May 24, 1914 - June 1, 2010)
was an American politician for the North Dakota Democratic Party, and
later the Democratic-NPL. He was elected as a one-term congressman in 1970
and as the 27th Governor of North Dakota in 1972, and served two terms
until 1981.

Link was born in
Alexander, North Dakota. He attended the McKenzie County schools, and
North Dakota Agricultural College. He was elected to the North Dakota
House of Representatives in 1946 as a Democrat, serving fourteen years as
minority floor leader and speaker of the house, 1965. He was also a member
of the Randolph Township Board, 1942-1972; McKenzie County Welfare Board,
1948-1969; Randolph School Board, 1945-1963; county and State Farm
Security Administration committee, 1941-1946; and delegate, North Dakota
State conventions, 1964-1968.

In 1970, Link was
persuaded to run for U.S. Congress from the western district of North
Dakota, a job with little security as it appeared certain the state would
be consolidated into a single congressional district after the census. He
was elected as a Democrat NPL to the Ninety-second Congress (January 3,
1971 - January 3, 1973); was not a candidate for reelection in 1972 but
was a successful candidate for Governor of North Dakota; reelected in 1976
and served from January 2, 1973, until January 7, 1981.

Link was well liked and
well respected as a governor. Those of all political persuasions found
common ground with him. Some considered him a social conservative who was
staunchly pro-life, deeply religious and willing to stand for principle
even when political wisdom dictated otherwise, vetoing a bill to lower the
state drinking age to 19 years and providing leadership against legalizing
gambling in the state. Others viewed him as a moderate as he was also
astute fiscally, managing to avoid raising taxes of one of the poorer
states in the nation. Still others saw him as a progressive, since he was
still able to maintain and grow an excellent education system with
affordable universities and students who consistently achieve some of the
top test scores in the United States.

He was also a leader
among governors from neighboring states. When the western United States
suffered a severe drought in the mid-1970s, and other western governors
called for Federal Aid, Link called for a day of fasting and prayer
instead. Some believe that in answer to the many prayers, rain followed.
With the rain, Federal Aid in North Dakota became a non-issue.

Even his political
opponents could find little to criticize about his governing style. Some
in his own party considered him too religious, too ethical, too colorless
and too unwilling to compromise for the sake of political expediency.
Nevertheless, he was nominated to run for a third term. He narrowly lost
re-election in 1980 only due to a perfect storm of circumstances working
against him, namely (1) a tradition of turnover in the governor's office
(only Link's immediate predecessor in the office had served more than six
years), (2) continuous occupation of the governor's mansion since 1961 by
Dem-NPLers in a solidly Republican state, (3) a highly unpopular President
Jimmy Carter running for re-election at the top of the ticket, (4) a
highly popular opponent Ronald Reagan running on the Republican side, (5)
a national feeling of pessimism brought about by the Iran hostage crisis
and an unprecedented combination of double-digit unemployment, inflation
and gas lines, even though North Dakota fared far better than most other
places in the United States.

After his defeat for
re-election, Link remained active in public life, leading a successful
fight against a state lottery in 1984. He also remained a strong force for
historical preservation and writing of local histories. He and his wife
Grace, lived in Bismarck, North Dakota.

He is fondly remembered
by North Dakotans and former North Dakotans, Dem-NPLers and Republicans
alike as one of the best governors the state ever enjoyed. Ironically, the
Democratic-NPL, able to elect only one governor since Link vacated the
office in 1981, has managed to occupy all the seats in the state's federal
congressional delegation in Washington from 1987 until January 2011, with
every member therein having served during the Link
Administration.

A movie was made of the
Links' lives in 2008, entitled: "When the Landscape is Quiet
Again".

Link died on June 1,
2010 in Bismarck, just eight days after his 96th birthday.

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